


Reputation

by WritingToKeepMySanity



Series: Punk (Newsies) Will Never Die [3]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: M/M, Punk!Race, Punk!Spot, Soft Gay Punks, Spot and Race paint their nails don't question it, rated t for slight language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 23:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15205706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingToKeepMySanity/pseuds/WritingToKeepMySanity
Summary: Spot Conlon had a reputation to maintain. He was tough, surly, walked through life with a "don't fuck with me” attitude.But all of that melts away when he's around Race.





	Reputation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gracedameron](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracedameron/gifts).



> not Punk!Jack, but this is my Punk series so... (maybe I'll change the title to Punk Newsies, we'll see...)
> 
> For Grace, who adores the Punk Newsies, and asked for Gay Punks.
> 
> I'm just really bad at saying no to my friends, y'all ;)
> 
> Spot is a year older than Race, so he's a sophomore in college, Race is a freshman, they met when Spot was 16 and Race was 15, started dating a little less than a year later.

“Damn,” Spot cursed under his breath.

Race looked up from his textbook. “Whassup, Spotty?”

His boyfriend waved a hand at him. “My polish, I toldja that place wasn’t any good. S’already cracked. Three nails.”

“Which ones?”

Spot stuck up his middle finger and Race snorted. “Helpful.” Hanging off the edge of his bed, he reached down to open his bottom drawer and pull out his emergency nail kit Kath had helped him fill. “C’mere, lemme see.”

Climbing over the headboard dividing their beds, Spot flopped onto Race’s bed, holding out his hand to Race.

Examining his hand, Race shook his head. “Dammit, ya right. S’what we get for tryin’ a new place. Next time, I pick.”

“ _You_ pick? Ya the one who picked _this_ place. _I_ pick next time.”

“’Scuse you? I said, ‘Spot, let’s go ta the place on Eighth,’ an’ _you_ said ‘No, s’where m’ex gets her nails done, let’s go ta the place on Fifth Ave’ an’ we went ‘cause I love ya.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, just fix it, if ya love me so much.” Spot waved a hand impatiently at Race, who grabbed it to keep it still.

“Stop flappin’ ya hand an’ I will.” They sat on Race’s bed quietly, as Race thoroughly removed the polish from the three fingers and began brushing on a base coat.

“Why’re ya so good at this?” Spot asked after a moment.

Race shrugged, swiping the nail polish brush over his nail. “Two older sisters, couldn’t afford ta get ‘em done, teenage rebellion, take ya pick.”

“ _Teenage rebellion_.” Spot snorted. “What was the most rebellious thing ya did?”

Grinning at him, Race said, “You were there. Runnin’ away from home when I was sixteen ta live wit’ m’bum boyfriend.”

“’Ay, I wasn’t a _bum_ , I was kicked out an’ doin’ _fine_ thank ya—”

“Ya smudgin’ m’hard work!” Race scolded. “Talk wit’ ya otha’ hand.”

Spot rolled his eyes. “ _Thank ya_ very much. An’ s’far as I c’n remember, ya left afta’ one night, couldn’ta been too rebellious.”

“I left because m’bum boyfriend made me. So any chance I had at teenage rebellion was ruined by him.” Race grinned cheekily, poking his tongue out at Spot.

“Yeah, he didn’t want’cha livin’ on the streets like him, what a bum,” Spot muttered.

“Nah, he’s a slob, an’ he eats too much junk food an’ drinks too much beer an’ leaves the cap off the toothpaste. That’s what makes him a bum, not his dad bein’ an asshole an’ kickin’ ‘im out at fifteen,” Race said decisively.

Spot wanted to say something, but couldn’t make his mouth form the words.

Before he had the chance, Race capped the bottle of nail polish. “ _Annnn’_ done! Good as new. Go forth an’ be badass. Wait, no,” he shook his head quickly. “Afta’ they dry first, hold on.”

Race bent his neck to blow gently on the still-drying polish, and Spot couldn’t help but slid his other hand into Race’s hot pink curls. He could see the blond starting to peek back through around his roots.

He was better at dying his hair than he had been in high school, Spot noted as he gently brushed back Race’s hair. Back then, he could barely figure out how to cover his own roots, and now he did Jack’s and Crutchie’s and his own with an expert hand.

Race wasn’t blowing on the polish any longer, just holding his hand, rubbing small circles around his knuckle.

Spot loved this boy, had pretty much since the day that gangly kid with terribly-dyed blue hair plopped himself down next to Spot and declared them best friends and refused to leave him alone, no matter how much he tried to brush him off.

He’d let that scrawny kid in, and he’d been changed for the better. Not that he’d tell anyone, of course, he had a reputation to maintain.

Spot was kicked out just a year before he met Race, lived on the streets until he was nineteen, when he moved into his first dorm. He'd learned how to make it through the day on his two free, measly school lunches, slept with a pocket knife gripped in his hand, perfected his "Do Not Fuck With Me" Look in his first week on the streets. When he had the money, he got the big boots and the leather jacket to add to the image.

For the longest time, all that kept him alive was his reputation.

“Hey, Tony?”

“Yeah, Sean?”

“… I love ya, too.”

Tugging on the hand that was still in his, Race kissed him, wrapping an arm around his neck, practically climbing into his lap, letting go of his hand in favor of cupping his cheek.

Spot brought his hands up to bracket his waist, smoothing his hands up Race’s back, kissing him.

Thank god Race had never cared much about reputations.

**Author's Note:**

> Race likes to get his nails done professionally because he wasn't really allowed to have painted nails at home, but his parents were a little more willing so long as he wasn't paying for them. Spot just goes along with it, so long as they go somewhere he won't be recognized ;)
> 
> I'd love to know your thoughts!! here or on tumblr!
> 
> Comments, concerns, and critiques welcome. Peace, love, and sanity!


End file.
